• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Tuesday, January 31, 2023
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
Home
Pope Francis

Listening to God’s word comes first; activity comes next, pope says

Monday, July 18, 2022

People in St. Peter’s Square attend the Angelus led by Pope Francis from the window of his studio overlooking the square at the Vatican July 17, 2022. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — The Gospel story of the sisters Mary and Martha, one sitting at Jesus’ feet and the other making sure their guest was served, is a lesson to Christians that every good deed done for others should flow from listening to God’s word, Pope Francis said.

“The word of Jesus is not abstract; it is a teaching that touches and shapes our life, changes it, frees it from the opaqueness of evil, satisfies and infuses it with a joy that does not pass. Jesus’ word is the better part, which Mary had chosen,” the pope said July 17 before reciting the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square.

The story of Martha and Mary was the day’s Gospel reading, and Pope Francis said it could be a particularly helpful reminder to Christians taking a July or August break from work or school.

In the Gospel, Jesus says Mary chooses the “better part” by stopping to listen.

“This does not detract from the value of practical effort, but it must not precede, but rather flow from listening to the word of Jesus,” the pope said. “It must be enlivened by his Spirit, otherwise it is reduced to fussing and fretting over many things, it is reduced to sterile activism.”

“Brothers and sisters,” he told the estimated 12,000 people in the square, “let us take advantage of this summer vacation time to stop and listen to Jesus.”

In the midst of busy lives, he said, a summer break is a good time “for opening the Gospel and reading it slowly, without haste, a passage each day, a short passage from the Gospel,” and then asking if one’s life “is in line with what Jesus says, or not so much.”

Too many times, the pope said, people start their day like “hens,” just darting around.

However, he said, if one starts the day by “looking to the Lord, taking his Word, briefly,” it can be an inspiration for the whole day. “If we leave the house in the morning keeping a word of Jesus in mind, the day will surely acquire a tone marked by that word, which has the power to orient our actions according to the wishes of the Lord.”

After reciting the Angelus, Pope Francis also prayed again for the people of Sri Lanka, which is experiencing civil, political and economic unrest and for the people of Ukraine, “struck every day by a hail of missiles.”

“How can one fail to understand that war only creates destruction and death, driving peoples apart, killing truth and dialogue?” Pope Francis said. “I pray and hope that all the international actors will truly work to resume negotiations, not to fuel the senselessness of war.”

  • Tags
  • Faith
  • Pope Francis
  • Vatican
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article Jack Pratt to receive 2023 Catholic Foundation Award
Previous article A mother’s love fuels graduate’s path to success

Related Posts

Faith is a call to service and mission, pope tells U.S. seminarians Pope Francis
Monday, January 16, 2023

Faith is a call to service and mission, pope tells U.S. seminarians

Pope to confer ministries of lector, catechist at Mass Jan. 22 Pope Francis
Friday, January 13, 2023

Pope to confer ministries of lector, catechist at Mass Jan. 22

At funeral, Pope Francis remembers Benedict's 'wisdom, tenderness, devotion' Pope Francis
Thursday, January 5, 2023

At funeral, Pope Francis remembers Benedict's 'wisdom, tenderness, devotion'

Texas Catholic Classics

A look at the five Dallas law enforcement officers who gave their lives while protecting citizens during a mass shooting in downtown Dallas in July 2016.

 

How a child with special needs inspired a high school volleyball team, community and a family who heeded God’s call to protect life.

 

After a young runner collapsed at a Dallas marathon, grace and providence unfolded for those involved in the valiant effort to help her.

   

In the summer of 2016, 50 students and 25 chaperones from Dallas Catholic high schools traveled to Nicaragua for a 10-day mission trip.

 

Early on a November morning, Kenndrick Mendieta bounded from the gym at Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep toward the campus’ athletic fields as clouds lifted on a fresh new day.

 

Subscribe

Get the award-winning Texas Catholic delivered to your door. Use the menu below to subscribe now.


Subscription length




 

Photo Gallery

Click here to find your favorite Texas Catholic photographs.

The Texas Catholic Newspaper

Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Michael Gresham, Editor

3725 Blackburn Street
Dallas, Texas 75219
(214) 379-2800

Our Affiliated Sites

Texas Catholic Youth

Revista Católica

Legal and Other

Contact us

Terms of service

Privacy policy

Site map

Site powered by TexasCatholicMedia

© 2013-2019 The Texas Catholic Publishing Company. All rights reserved.